Fruit-drying apparatus.



No. 649,3l8'. Patented May 8, |900.

J. L. LARSUN. l

FRUIT DRYING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Apr. 1, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 649,3aa.

J. L. LARSON.

FRUIT DBYINE- APPARATUS.

(Application led Apr. 1, 1899.) (lo Modal.) 2 Shent--Sheet 2.

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' an interior or supplemental housing comprisf the heating compartmentor cell is put up of `residing at Shaw, in the county of Marion and iUnrrnjn STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

JOIIN LEMUEL LARSON, OF SHAW, OREGON.

FRUIT-TDRYI'NG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 649,318, dated May 8,1900.

Application filed April l, 1899. Serial No. 711,455. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN LEMUEL Lassen,

State of Oregon, have invented a new and lmproved Fruit-DryingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved means for drying fruits,vegetables, hops, &c., and it relates to that class of driers in whichthe article to be dried is held within a drying-room under dead heat anddried by condensing the vapor drawn off therefrom and carrying theproducts of condensation to a point outside of the dryingchamber- Theinvention consists in certain details of construction and combination ofparts, all of which will hereinafter be fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the appended claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a longitudinalsection of adrying apparatus constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of my improved dryingapparatus, taken practically on the line 2 2 of Fig. l.

In the practical construction of my invention I provide a drying-housewhich is built with an externally-arranged housing 30 and ing anair-tight lower heating-compartment 31, which may be heated by hot-airpipes circulating therein or in any other Well-known manner, and anupper air-tight drying-chamber 32, which is centrally and longitudinallydivided by a single coil of condensing-pipes 33, which coil is fed by amain supply-pipe and discharges into a well d, as clearly shown in Fig.l.

It will be noticed by reference to Fig. 2 the supplemental or mainhousing portion of the apparatus is so arranged that provision is madefor alleys 34 between the ends and sides of the inner housing and thewalls of the outer housing, and to produce an economical as well aseffective structure when made of wood strips of suitable thickness andwidth and double surfaces, one piece being nailed directly on the top ofanother.

By running the condenser-coils centrally of the drying-chamber dividessuch chamber into two longitudinal sections, the ends of which havehea'vy drop-hinged doors 35, capable of being hoisted by suitableelevatingropes 36, as shown, and when down are adapted to close theopenings air-tight. A trackway 3l is disposed in each drying-roomsection and the said trackways extend beyond each end of the dryingroomand in practice in a plane with a trackway on which the cars holding thefruit-trays are run to and from the drier.

14 indicates a collecting-trough disposed under the condensing-coils,which trough collects the products of condensation and dischargesthrough a pipe 15 into a collector 1G, disposed outside of the internalchamber.

In operation the water or other cooling agent is caused to constantlyiiow through the condensing pipe-coils 33, which contracts the vaporthrown ofi:` by the fruit, causing the same to condense on thepipe-surfaces, from whence it drops into the collecting-trough 14 and isconveyed outside of the drier-house, it being understood that when thecondensed liquid ceases to iiow the fruits Will have been suflicientlydried and be ready to be taken out.

By my improved construction of drying apparatus the full effect of thedead heat is obtained with a minimum consumption of fuel.

Furthermore, in my form of apparatus the fruit after being placed in thedrying-chainber need not be changed from corners to center, as isnecessary in the common form of driers. Again, the quality of the fruitis increased, as the same is dried even, and by reason thereofdrippingis reduced to a mini` mum, and in consequence the sugar sap ofthe fruit, which mostly goes to Waste in dripping, is retained and themerchantable Vallio of lthe product thereby much enhanced.

By arranging the drying-chamber and the heating cellar compartment asshown the same can be economically constructed to Withstand an ordinaryinternal pressure produced by fruit evaporation or expansion. As thispressure in my apparatus is uniform at all points of theheating-chamber, it prevents the fruit from bursting and then dripping,as is the casein the ordinary forms of driers now in use. Furthermore,this internal pressure also acts as a powerful energy for forcing thesap from the fruit without bursting it, and thereby providing for aquick evaporation IOO , 2 afasie thereof, thereby effecting the dryingof the fruit ina much less time than can be eiected by the A ordinaryprocess of drying fruit and absorbing the vapor by hot air, for thereason in my apparatus the vapor is drawn o from the drying-chamberinstead of being dried -dut within the said chamber, as is ordinarilydone. y A

It is obvious that by providing a supplemental internal housing ordrying-chamber divided centrally to form a plurality of carmountedtray-holders a means for quickly setting in place a large amount offruit in the drying-chamber and removing the saine therefrom isprovided. 1

The apparatus involves a very simple construction and arrangement ofparts, and while I have shown an internal housing formed with a singlecoil and two car-receiving compartments it is obvious the structure maybe made on a larger scale of, say, three or more cornpartments, intowhich the cars may run, it bci-ng understood that each pair ofcompartments can be divided by a condensing-coil.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to securebyv Letters Patent, is-

An improved fruit-drying apparatus, comprising an external housinghaving closed sides and open ends; an internal housing having anair-tight heatingfcompartment at the bottom, a drying-compartment at thetop and a slotted floor dividing the two compartments, the internalhousing being of less width and length than the external housing, theexternal housing having trackways forming continuations of the slottedfloor of the internal housing; the internal housing having twodrop-doors at each end, each door having independently-operating openingmeans; a condenser-coil disposed centrally of the internal housing andrunning lengthwise thereof, whereby to divide the housing into twoseparate sections each having a door at each end, and an independenttrackway in a plane with the external track-platform of the outerhousing; the tray 14 for collecting the dripping from the condensecoilmeans for supplying a cooling agent to the condensing-coil, saidcondensingicoil having its discharge disposed outside of the internalhousing, substantially as shown and for the purposes described.

JOI-IN LEMUEL LARSO'N. Witnesses:

W. F. DARBY, C. R. PATTON.

